The academic year is off to an exciting start! After over two years of hard work and planning, The revitalized curriculum effort has launched this past July with the incoming M1 class. This effort includes an increased focus on alignment and integration of content, more built-in class time for interprofessional education, and increased emphasis on active, applied pedagogical approaches. For questions, concerns or feedback regarding the curriculum, please email the Office of Medical Education at its new email address, commeded@neomed.edu.

Here is an outline of the most recent curriculum changes::

• Foundations of Human Development – structured around group activities, guided questions and activity focused learning methods, in addition to traditional lecture methods. This course utilizes peer and self-evaluations to allow students a more active voice in their work alone and in groups. It also contains multiple vetted case studies and utilizes outside clinicians to help students apply their knowledge.

• Personal and Professional Development – focuses on developing competence within the domains of wellness, academic preparedness, and professional development. This course will emphasize self-directed learning, with students setting S.M.A.R.T. goals and developing individualized learning portfolios over the academic year. M1 students will also utilize Firecracker as part of PPD, an adaptive question bank coaching software to help support student success in the curriculum and Step 1 preparation.

• Health Systems and Community – introduces the foundations of health systems, evidence-based medicine and interprofessional collaboration during the M1 and M2 years. Previously, this was covered in M3 and M4 years. This allows the health systems concepts and inter-professionalism to be taught early in the curriculum where it is more developmentally appropriate, while allowing more advanced subjects to be taught during the M3 and M4 years.

• Biostatistics – designed to help students learn how to understand, interpret, and critically evaluate evidence from clinical studies. As new scientific evidence emergences, physicians are called upon to interpret and use this evidence in their practice. Students must become life-long learners who are able to understand the scientific literature and apply in their practice.